Desk Drawer Still - Has anyone tried it?

[zwinzilious]

As a skeptic and also a open mind, I am curious if anyone has used or made a still known as the Deskdrawer Still. This still is shown on page 126 & 127 of "The Alaskan Bootleggers Bible." Basically it uses a "Beheaded soldering iron" inside a copper tube as the heat source, has a continuous flow of wash dripping into it, this creates an instantaneous vapor on contact of the hot surface, the vapor rises up the column, is separated into distillate.

It seems too simple to be true. The heat control, and the pressure release, seem to be obvious flaws. It is in effect a continuous running still, which has no way of controlling heads, hearts, and tails.

Looking forward to some experienced feedback, opinions, regarding the practical utility of this type of still in practice.

Z+

[rad14701]

Umm... Are you serious about getting into distilling or just jerking us around...??? You've got me, and I'm sure others, wondering...

Sure, it "could" be done, but "why"...

[whiskymonster]

if so it'd be bloody slow. my soldering iron drops temp noticably on large contacts, nevermind quantities of liquid. 40w aint a lot.

apart from all the other obvious problems....

[Braz]

The only place that would make sense is in the prison workshop.

[Prairiepiss]

The only place that would make sense is in the prison workshop.

Right next to the ink pen cassette motor tattoo gun.

[zwinzilious]

Funny. Obviously its a novelty concept rather than a practical concept.

[Prairiepiss]

Funny. Obviously its a novelty concept rather than a practical concept.

You will find a lot of that elsewhere. Novelty concepts that is. Good thing you found HD. It's like the mythbusters of distilling. The bad thing is all the money that is wasted on these novelty concepts. Before the due research is done. Good luck on your journey. And be safe.

[Bushman]

Reading the description on page 125 that really sounds like a dangerous rig, something I wouldn't want to fool with!

[zwinzilious]

Here is the relevant diagram. Perhaps we could benefit by taking the positives and eliminating the negatives inherent. It is a shame the author publishes only to gain attention, instead of provide something useful and worthwhile.


Material withdrawn due to copyright considerations. Info location cited above.

[zwinzilious]

Material withdrawn due to copyright considerations. Info location cited above.

[rad14701]

zwinzilious, that is just a ghetto version of a continuous distillation column... We've already gone round and round about continuous distillation columns recently... You cannot make proper cuts so it would only serve as a stripper and not usable for spirit runs...

Did you get permission to publish the image and text here...??? I'm relatively sure it's copyrighted... Anything beyond paraphrasing could be subject to scrutiny...

One complaint and this topic will vanish...

[zwinzilious]

Ok, in the interest of preventing needless bickering etc, with the author regarding his irresponsible information, I took the material off this site voluntarily. That said, I think its a dis-service that this author is selling a book with very bad, and dangerous suggestions.

This site is not consumer reports, and yet a word to the wise, "If it involves distilling, consult here for that needed expertise.

Thanks for the feedback "Elders of Distillation."

[rad14701]

Thanks, zwinzilious... I think you did the right thing... Just goes to show that there truly is a lot of bad information out there...

[Prairiepiss]

I still think the worst part of it is. The people giving out the bad info are all ones who are making a profit from it. Makes me sick.

[Old Hippie]

Well, Leon points out in his book several times that what he's writing about comes from those situations where desperation and innovation overlap.

If you get hold of an old copy (first edition) of Gibat & Gibat, you'll see a little more refined version in there.

In a place a long way away, in another country in another time, I built and ran one of these. I can report from my own experience that even after vinegar flushing it produces a beverage quaintly reminiscent of paint thinner. Because it was what I had, and I built it, I felt a certain sentimental attachment to it. I ran a few (very slow) gallons out of it.

Frankly, even if you ran it as a stripper you'd be disappointed. As a device for making finished "How Come Ye So" it is diabolically effective at producing headaches that can be heard 113 metres away. And THAT was after filtering through a 2-metre column of flooded activated carbon. I decided there must be a better way. Certainly a safer one. I still have the soldering iron (125 watts) and use it occasionally. The Copper Demon was presented, with appropriate ceremony, to a colleague of mine from Georgia because "any Southern boy needs his own still." He'll never run it, but it's a conversation piece.

Cheers.

[still_head]

Don't know if anyone's following this thread anymore, but I wanted to chime in if anyone was still reading.

I saw that diagram too. I see it as a valid and maybe workable still design for stripping a large volume wash (for me, large would only be 10 gallons, but that still takes a lot of energy to distill). I would, however, use it for the idea, I think the specifics, ie the soldering iron heater, are inadequate and unsafe. How about a copper pellet-filled 1" dia copper pipe with outlet and inlet shown and heated via heat tape with a temp controller (see for instance this on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002S4 ... K3MKEU5H24 but pricey). The parameters to play with would be length of the pipe/column, delivery rate, etc. Then follow it up with a spirit run. If one could find an inexpensive way to heat that column, it could be a fun project.